Morts sans sépulture and La Putain respectueuse: A critical dramatization of existentialism in 1946–1947

Jean Wahl first pointed out the original reflexive character of the play Morts sans sépulture in 1946. The recent republication of his critique of the vogue for existentialism at the time of France’s liberation invites us to consider Sartre’s plays from 1946 as the site of a personal, critical interrogation, as Sartre’s existentialism took shape. The plays present debates between Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Beauvoir on resistance, history, and morality.